The Green Cup, a student-organized sustainability competition, will pit Residential Colleges against one another in an effort to reduce electrical energy usage. The contest will take place simultaneously among fraternity houses.

Students will be able to track their progress in real time through the competition’s website, greencup.wustl.edu, which goes live Monday. The winning fraternity will receive a $500 cash prize, and the winning Residential College will be awarded a trophy made of recycled green glass in a ceremony on Earth Day.

The four-week competition starts Monday with an event in College Hall. Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton will address participants, and food, music, raffle prizes, and a compact fluorescent light bulb (CFL) exchange will be part of the event.

Over the four weeks of the competition, energy reduction will be measured by percentage in each participating residential building.

Devices called “current cost meters” have been installed in these buildings to measure electrical energy usage and have been specially programmed to only measure energy consumption for which students are directly responsible, such laptop charging and appliance use.

Residential Colleges can also earn points for everyone in the building who takes the online pledge, for the highest percentage of residents to attend the kickoff event, and for holding brainstorming sessions on each floor to discuss how best to reduce energy waste.

Individual floors will also have the opportunity to earn points for their Residential College in a sustainability-themed YouTube video making competition.

“We wanted to make sure that if your ResCollege fell behind in the competition, you wouldn’t be discouraged from participating in the competition,” said Will Fischer, a fellow in the Office of Sustainability who helped coordinate the competition.

Each week of the competition will have a theme, including “All Natural,” which will challenge students to minimize their use of electric shaving and hair care devices; “Paperless,” to reduce printing; “Lights Out,” to minimize use of artificial light; and “Total Shutdown,” to restrict their use of all unnecessary electronics.

In addition to the one winning Residential College and fraternity, individuals and suites will also have the opportunity to gain recognition within their residential building for outstanding commitment to the competition.

Each residential college director will be able to award one particularly enthusiastic individual and dorm as the Residential College MVP based upon nominations from their residential advisers.

Senior Chris Brennan proposed the idea for the Green Cup during his sophomore year, but several people told him it would be difficult to implement because there was no historical data for each dorm.

“I was told that Ameren delivered bills for the entire South 40,” he said, “but that the figures could only be divided on a square-foot basis, not by dorm.”

Brennan proposed the idea in an email to Chancellor Wrighton, who agreed to help make it happen. Brennan worked with Hank Webber, executive vice chancellor for administration, and Fischer to implement the program.

The competition will use devices made by Current Cost to measure electricity usage. This method was suggested by a University professor.

Brennan and Fischer have since partnered with the Office of Sustainability and a diverse committee of students, including representatives from the Congress of the South 40 and the Student Sustainability Fund to collaboratively plan the Green Cup.

“I’ve never been involved in any of the green groups on campus, but I’ve always been interested in [sustainability],” Brennan said.

Freshman Jake Lyonfields, a chemical engineering major who serves on the committee, views the competition as a creative way to promote energy reduction on a college campus.

“Not only does this event kind of bring to light what actions students can take to reduce their energy use, but it also does it in a format in which they can get excited about it. I think it’s unique and really cool in that regard,” Lyonfields said.

The Green Cup will conclude on Earth Day on April 22.